Simon addressing the enthusiastic and loud Austin crowd. He has a special place in his heart for us due to our past support with his work.
How special is Austin? Quite. For his book tour, Simon Pegg visited only three American cities: New York, Los Angeles and Austin. No one pressed on an explanation though. I suppose we were all too high on our own supply. Seriously though, I guess it’s due to his busy schedule as an actor, Simon was in high demand long before Abrams cast him as Mr. Scott with the Star Trek reboot.
The fine employees at Book People brought him here to drop by, say hello and sign all copies of his debut bio…Nerd Do Well. Due to the turnout (over 500 people), Simon had to cut it short to get up to the third for signing and to let us all have a little face time. This was also our (Somara and me) birthday present to Jeremy, it was a tad late since it happened in May. I always shoot for something unique, otherwise it would be Batman: Arkham Asylum for his Xbox 360.
What was equally cool was landing the wristbands to attend and discovering how ours entitled us to be in the first group of 50! They went on sale while I was on vacation in Vegas. However, the staff said I could call as soon as the store opened. I had several alarms put into my iPhone in case the time zones threw it off. This paid off. I got through one minute after 7 AM (PDT), the rep knew what to do, took my credit card information and put aside everything for day of! Book People is the best place in Central Texas when it comes to signings.
The fat guy getting an autograph from Simon is yours truly.
Posed pictures weren’t allowed (again, time constraints) yet it was tempted to do the photo trick from Paul. I was cool with Jeremy getting me chatting. I need to ask Jeremy how his turned out. Simon was really nice. He definitely enjoys what he does, the fans and America. One funny anecdote he mentioned was the reaction actors get in England. In the States, you mention the title of something you’re in, the crowd cheers; the English go, “oh, hmm.” It was more like a acknowledging grunt/noise. Again, Austin is special; his movies are previewed here in advance through SXSW’s film segment.
So what did I ask him? I was curious about his guest appearance on Doctor Who. Did the producers invite him or did he express a strong, overt interest (it’s how Whoopi Goldberg ruined Star Trek:NG)? Simon replied that he was asked to do the show because the writers knew he was a big fan of the original while they were planning the reboot. Then he threw in how he was originally supposed to be in a different episode as another character. What was awesome was how he happily answered. I feared he had been asked this a thousand times; the show Simon did was first aired six years ago (five in America); so he had every right to be annoyed. Nope and this is why I have more respect for actors from the UK. Here, TV and movie stars get elevated to some weird specialized caste which is heightened by their ludicrous incomes. There, actors are more well-rounded since many write their own scripts; the majority often can do comedy, action and drama programs without puzzling audiences (Americans are usually pigeonholed unless it’s Gary Cole or Kevin Kline, Robin Williams uses a beard to dispel confusion); lastly, appearing in plays isn’t considered slumming or a plea for attention. In short, Simon has never let the attention and success go to his head.
How is his book? I’m in the middle of another right now but Simon’s is next. I did cheat a tad by reading some pieces…it’s very funny. He even did a separate forward for us Yanks. I recommend it, especially if you enjoy his movies.